I have weighed the arguements for and against Racial Feats for monster races, to be specific, your arguements 'for' and mine 'against'.

-Jamie's Goblin seems to be doing super fine (highest kill count), and last game, her character's racial feat saved her ass from a Orcish Battleaxe beatdown. (A slight overexaggeration, but you still get the point.)\

-The Shadarkai's ability to teleport AND become incoporeal. Incoporeal = Half Damage from ALL sources in comparison to Eladrin's simple teleportation.

-The Drow has TWO racial encounter powers, one that grants combat advantage (you have a rogue in the group) and another that grants cover that does NOT affect the Drow's line of sight. Also, it doesn't seem that being universally hated is hurting much.

Also, making house rules is HARD. So, here's my final ruling:

Unless NOT having racial feats is going to put your characters SEVERELY in danger of being totally lame at higher levels, which I doubt, since the game was balanced for characters who didn't want to take racial feats in the first place, the answer is no.

Question 2: Can my dog fight and wear battle armor?

The answer is yes and no.

Right now, your 45 inch mastiff is in 'untrained' status. It basically knows that it likes you and to bite bad things that hurt you. It has the stats of a Gray Wolf and will gain one level for every two you gain. Every time you gain a level, you can make a Nature check to teach it a trick like being comfortable in battle armor or flanking an opponent or charging on command. Until it learns that stuff, it's just a slobbering brute.

Question 3: Where do I post my concerns about the game?

OKAY. This is the good stuff.

Questions about statistical stuff, like the dog question and rants about racial feats, go here from now on.

Questions about the game world, go under the ADVENTURES IN PELLAOS Primer.

I am not going to post a point by point rebuttle of your arguments, Mike, if you've clearly made up your mind. I had hoped you'd be able to see the merit of what I was saying, understand that it was an issue of basic fairness and flexibility and were willing to work with me/us towards some sort of compromise. That's it.

Okay, Mike you set up how I can use the dog, and what skills it has. Do I have to buy armor for the dog? Or is it the party's job to equip the dog? Or does the dog now just have armor?

Or is the equipping the dog party's job so they can sort it out, but since the dog is now technically mine, I get to pay for most of it? Its not that I can't but 25 gold for leather armor will leave me pretty low.

No, I lied. I don't even have enough gold to buy leather armor for the dog._________________Face it, you're pretty much here as a meat shield.

In case you don't know, I'm Erik- the one with the giant bag of decks.

Ah, see this is why we need money--for the practical day to day stuff. We'll find out who is "greedy" now!

Out-of-character, I tend to hate pets, familiars, etc in D&D. I just kind of find them annoying. I do like NPC Henchmen or Allies--because they can have cool personalities to RP with, but animals, etc, always bug me.

However, because of our character history and friendship, in-character, my PC would vote to help pay for the dog's equipment and training, etc. We did get 240 gold upfront, so in theory we could use some of that for the dog if the other PCs agreed--so you can proxy me for the vote and say I'm for using the group's money to pay for the dog's stuff.

Also, if the guy who hired us is still in town, we could ask him for money for the dog--he did say he'd give us "supplies". That could include for the dog. Or, you could ask the guy who did leatherwork, who was going to give us hides/leathers to make something for the dog.

What does Zeneth, the warlord (Nick's character), use to fight? If he doesn't have a shield, I think that the Terror Falchion, On Pain of Death, would fit his character perfectly. If not, then I'll continue to hold onto it until we get rid of it or we find some one else who could use it better.

No Bill you can't have the falchion, you have your mace. Be happy with it.

If the guy using the Tiefling becomes a regular maybe he could use it if Nick's guy has no need of it._________________Face it, you're pretty much here as a meat shield.

In case you don't know, I'm Erik- the one with the giant bag of decks.